


everything stays (but it still changes)

by archiveofourscone



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Catra revisits some unpleasant memories, Childhood Memories, F/F, Fluff, Memories, Revisiting Memories, Sort Of, The Crystal Castle, The First Ones (She-Ra), and the Crystal Castle gets up to some tomfoolery, but there's a happy ending, they all take an adventure to the Crystal Castle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26586076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archiveofourscone/pseuds/archiveofourscone
Summary: Catra trails after Adora, Bow, and Glimmer, the three of them talking as they make their way through the Crystal Castle. She’s not exactly sure why they’re here or what they need, but Adora seemed so sure, and Catra refused to let her come back to this place on her own.Adora, Bow, and Glimmer don’t seem to be affected by the dead panels and muted colors of the castle, but everything about it has Catra’s tail puffed and her hair standing on end.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Side Bow/Glimmer - Relationship
Comments: 9
Kudos: 166





	everything stays (but it still changes)

**Author's Note:**

> *Shows up to the party four months late with a Starbucks* Is anyone even here anymore?
> 
> Anyway, hello. It's been a very, very long time since I wrote something in general. Between moving and starting the new school year given how everything is literally a burning dumpster fire here in the US, writer's block hit me like a ton of bricks, and I've had this written for a while, but I didn't know if it was good enough to even bother posting.
> 
> Now, a little over four months after the release of the last season, I'm finally coming out of the woodwork to publish something. It's based off of artwork by @alexryzhy on Tumblr, and I couldn't help myself. You can find the artwork they did [here](https://alexryzhy.tumblr.com/post/618469795727392768/i-have-a-lot-of-feelings-about-catra). If you're curious about the title, it comes from Everything Stays from Adventure Time.
> 
> Alright, I hope you guys enjoy!

Catra trails after Adora, Bow, and Glimmer, the three of them talking as they make their way through the Crystal Castle. She’s not exactly sure why they’re here or what they need, but Adora seemed so sure, and Catra refused to let her come back to this place on her own.

Adora, Bow, and Glimmer don’t seem to be affected by the dead panels and muted colors of the castle, but everything about it has Catra’s tail puffed and her hair standing on end.

As a rule, she doesn’t like this place. When Catra was still with the Horde, it represented the Rebellion and everyone who took Adora away from her, and the castle almost mocked her as it showed her snippets of her and Adora’s childhood to tear them apart. After, after Catra fought against mind control and helped the people she swore she never would, Catra almost lost Adora deep within the walls of the Crystal Castle.

She wonders for just a moment if the castle will spring back to life, every muted panel snapping to attention as Adora passes through, but even with the presence of She-Ra, the castle stays dark.

They pass by the AI that guards the entrance to the Heart, and she flickers as she says, “State your query.”

Glimmer sticks her tongue out at it, and Bow admonishes her, reaching across Adora to gently hit Glimmer’s shoulder with a stern, “We do not antagonize innocent AIs, Glimmer,” Adora hiding a laugh behind her hand.

Catra pauses for one moment, looking up at the AI, and she feels a chill run up her spine.

Her and Shadow Weaver didn’t interact with the hologram. Shadow Weaver’s magic got them as close to Adora as it possibly could, but she still feels a flood of memories at the sight of the panel that she knows leads through a long corridor to the Heart.

She shakes her head to try and expel the memories taking root as she catches up to the others, but it doesn’t work. She can’t stop the onslaught.

All she can think about is the last time she was here, watching Shadow Weaver burn, readying herself to die as Horde Prime flooded the Heart with corruption, holding Adora to her chest and begging her to stay, _for once just stay_.

Catra’s hand goes to the back of her neck, an old habit, and she fights against the surge of memories of green liquid and electricity and a hold on her mind that was never supposed to be there. She feels her claws sink in, not quite breaking skin but enough that it reminds her that the chip isn’t there anymore, and it hasn’t been for a long time.

Bow’s voice interrupts the memories, his hands going up around him as he mimics an explosion, some overdramatisation of his and Sea Hawk’s last Boys’ Night, and Glimmer is quick to comment that Sea Hawk is lucky that Mermista tolerates him with the amount of money Sealineas probably spends on new ships, and Catra can see her winding up to make a dirty joke before Bow launches himself across Adora to clamp a hand over Glimmer’s mouth.

Adora is knocked back, laughing as Bow’s cheeks flush so dark that Catra is convinced every drop of blood rushed to his face. She’s still laughing as she looks over her shoulder to Catra like she couldn’t imagine a moment like this without including Catra in it, but her eyebrows pull together when she realizes how far back Catra has fallen from the group.

She stops, letting Bow and Glimmer pull ahead, and tilts her head with a soft smile that Catra has loved since they were kids.

“You coming?” Adora asks, offering her hand to Catra.

Just as Catra is about to take it, the floor opens up underneath her, and Catra falls through, her claws scraping against panels as she tries to catch herself. She hears Adora shout her name, but it fades the further she falls.

She lands on her back in a pitch-black room, no beginning or end in sight, and Catra is reminded of her first time in the ruins. She wonders if the castle is even alive enough to dig into her memories and play them for her.

She knows it did for Adora, but Adora is She-Ra. She has a connection to this place and the people who built it.

Catra is just Catra. She’s no mythical warrior princess or First One, so she expects that she’ll just be trapped here until the rest of the Best Friend Squad can find her.

The darkness doesn’t seem to let up, so Catra pulls herself up and tries to see if there’s any sign of a door.

“Adora!” she calls, hoping that maybe her girlfriend already found where the castle sent her, but she didn’t get any response.

“Adora!” she tries again, and again, there’s nothing.

There’s a soft glow forming at the horizon of the room, and Catra wonders if she should go towards it.

She figures it’s her only option.

As Catra gets closer, she notices the room glitching, and she’s afraid the floor is going to open up again, but then she sees it.

Amongst the black is one of the bunkbeds from the barracks Catra and Adora grew up in. There’s something small curled up on the bottom bunk, and Catra knows who it is even before a young Adora comes in and pulls the blankets from around young Catra’s wild mane.

It’s the same memory that the Crystal Castle showed Catra the first time she was here, the same one that strengthened her resolve to stop trying to get Adora to come back and to cut the only thing keeping Adora from falling into the abyss the castle created.

Just like last time, the younger version of herself stops and stares up at Catra, and this time, Catra smiles.

“Adora will hold onto that promise,” Catra tells her younger self, “And she’ll always come back for you, no matter what.”

Little Catra doesn’t respond. She just smiles and runs off to follow Adora into the black of the room.

_It must be picking up on Adora’s memories_ , Catra thinks, looking around for the light she seems to have lost.

There’s a crash behind her, and Catra turns, claws coming up ready for a fight, but they fall to her side when she sees what caused the noise.

There are a few crates used to hold armor and weapons, and beside them, a young Catra flopped on top of a young Adora. She can see the scratches across Adora’s cheek, and she winces when Catra gets up and jumps on Adora’s stomach.

They run past her giggling and laughing, pulling at each other and play-wrestling.

Instead of running off into the pale green corridors of the Fright Zone, they disappear into the darkness, and Catra is left on her own again.

“Why is it playing these memories?” Catra wonders aloud.

Nothing answers her.

“And why can’t I get out of here?” Catra yells, frustration starting to build.

She listens for something, anything, that will point her to an exit or Adora, Bow, and Glimmer coming to her rescue, but the room is eerily quiet.

“Why did this even happen?” Catra asks the room, knowing she isn’t going to get an answer, but it’s the only way she can think to dim the anger building, “Do you just like fucking with me?”

Catra’s starting to wish she didn’t leave Melog back at Bright Moon, because not only could she really use them to find her way out of here, she misses the calming presence Melog always seem to carry with them.

Melog would tell her to take deep breaths and find something in the room to focus on, but Catra is the only one here and the only thing making any noise.

_I sure hope Melog is having fun with Scorpia and Perfuma,_ Catra thinks, crossing her arms and tapping her shoe against the dead panels impatiently, _because this is the last time I’m going out on a mission without them._

She flops onto her back and looks up at what she assumes is the ceiling, but with the Crystal Castle, she can never be sure. Everything about this place is so outside of the realm of normal that Catra wonders if she’s actually just suspended in midair.

The memories seem to play out on the same plane she’s on, though, and whatever is underneath her feels solid enough to be a floor.

The black ceiling reminds her of the night sky in Etheria before they were pulled from Despondos, and Catra wonders if she can manifest the stars if she thinks about them hard enough.

She thinks of the first time she saw the stars their first night back on Etheria. She remembers sneaking out of their hideout and looking up, expecting the same blank sky she had looked up at for years, and instead finding a million little dots of light.

She had seen stars from Horde Prime’s ship while she watched the planets he conquered go up in flames, but seeing them like this, on her home planet after being gone for so long, it felt different.

It was that same feeling of watching Adora become She-Ra on Mara’s ship, the light engulfing her and magic making her blue eyes shine. Catra isn’t exactly sure what the feeling is, and she can’t put a name to it, but it was something like hope and awe mixed together.

Thinking of the memory doesn’t seem to manifest it, and that just strengthens Catra’s theory that the castle is projecting Adora’s memories, not hers.

Every memory she’s seen so far can be attributed to Adora’s presence within the castle, and she’s sure that the first memory was just some data remnants from her first time here.

That last memory, though, Catra isn’t sure that that one holds as much significance for Adora as it does for her.

For Catra, that memory was the tipping point. Adora’s promise that she would always be Catra’s friend gave her the push she needed to save Glimmer and keep Adora from getting captured.

She was willing to die on Horde Prime’s ship in order to keep Adora safe. She didn’t expect to be saved, and yet, Adora came back for her.

Adora risked everything for Catra.

She hears whispering, and when she turns her head, she sees her and Adora lying down a few feet away from her, Adora pointing up at nothing.

It’s a few nights after the defeat of Horde Prime. Catra remembers Adora pulling her from their comfy bed in Bright Moon with a, _“It’ll be worth it, Catra. I promise.”_ She led Catra through the quiet, pristine corridors and out to the gardens, and when they laid down on the soft grass, Adora pulled her close and taught her the First Ones’ constellations.

Glimmer found them early the next morning, curled up and fast asleep under the dim morning glow.

Catra sits up and watches the two. Adora’s hair is up in what was her usual ponytail at the time, and she’s pointing up at a sky that Catra can’t see. The younger version of herself, her hair still so short after Horde Prime cut it, hums along, but she’s not looking up at the sky. She’s looking at Adora, a soft smile on her lips.

Adora seems to notice that Catra isn’t listening, because she stops mid-sentence and turns to see Catra watching her.

“ _Catra_ ,” Adora says through a laugh, “ _Are you even paying attention?_ ”

Catra knows what’s coming before her younger self even says it. The younger Catra looks at Adora, everything about her so soft, and with every emotion she convinced herself would never be reciprocated, she says, “ _I love you, Adora._ ”

It was only the second time Catra ever said it, the first time without Adora dying in her arms, and Adora’s eyes go wide, but she recovers quickly, her fingers going into Catra’s hair and pulling her into a kiss.

Catra watches herself sink into it, her hand resting on Adora’s stomach.

“ _I love you too, Catra_ ,” Adora whispers, resting her forehead against Catra’s.

They fade into the darkness, and Catra stands, moving further into the room.

So far, that hasn’t gotten her anywhere, but she can’t just sit here and do nothing. She’s hoping that the Crystal Castle might take pity on her and a door will magically appear, but she just keeps walking and walking without running into anything.

“Adora!” she tries again, looking around herself, “Adora!”

Nothing.

“Sparkles!” Catra calls out, “Bow!”

Complete silence.

“This is useless,” Catra growls, “I should just face the facts. I’m trapped here forever. They’re going to find my body centuries from now in this awful place.”

“ _Catra._ ”

She turns quickly at the sound of Adora’s voice, but it’s not Adora, not really.

This Adora catches herself on the ground, the old Sword of Protection holding her up, and she’s bruised and beaten from the fight.

She looks up at Catra with sadness and regret, and Catra turns around to see herself, betrayal written so obviously across her features.

Adora fades when Catra turns to run away from the destruction of Thaymor, and Catra follows the younger version of herself.

She interacted with the Catra from the first memory, and when Adora and her were here all those years ago, they glitched between themselves and the version of themselves in the memories, so Catra chases until her younger self stops, falling to her knees and tearing into the ground.

Catra remembers every second of this. She remembers the heartbreak and sadness and anger of watching Adora leave her, the way it felt like Adora had reached into her chest and ripped her heart in half.

“She didn’t leave you,” Catra says gently, and the younger version of herself freezes, “Not really.”

Catra doesn’t expect the memory to respond, but her younger self, hair wild and eyes filled with tears, says, “I wasn’t enough to make her stay.”

“The Horde was a toxic place,” Catra responds, “It tried killing every good part of you, and eventually, it would’ve done that to Adora too.”

“She chose _them_ over _me_ ,” younger Catra hisses, “I’m her best friend, and they’re just some princesses who kidnapped her.”

“I know it hurts,” Catra crouches down so that they’re at the same height, “It’ll hurt for a really long time, but even when you’re at your lowest, when you think you don’t deserve to be saved, Adora will choose you, and she will keep choosing you.”

Catra knows this is pointless. She knows that talking to this version of herself won’t change anything, but it feels cathartic to tell herself everything she wished someone had told her.

Perfuma would probably refer to it as Catra getting closure, and maybe she’s right, but Catra also knows there’s something deeper to it, the healthier parts of herself that she’s spent years nurturing finally finding an outlet.

This Catra, right on the precipice of every awful thing she’ll do to get back at Adora, she’s still so scared and lonely. The only important thing to her was Adora and keeping Adora safe, and when Adora left, Catra took that as Adora telling her that she wasn’t good enough, so she climbed the ranks and fought ruthlessly to prove she was.

“Shadow Weaver would’ve torn us apart eventually,” Catra says, “Adora would’ve gone on to be Hordak’s second-in-command, and even though she would insist on bringing you with her, Shadow Weaver would’ve never allowed it. We would’ve been completely broken with no way to fix ourselves. You would’ve lost her for good.”

A few tears track through short fur, and her younger self brushes them away with the heel of her hand, the action harsh and angry.

“Everything after this moment gets messy, and we do some horrible things as a way of coping, but we’ll find ourselves again,” Catra says, smiling sadly, “We’ll have a lot of apologizing to do, and a lot of broken relationships to try and fix, but we’ll get better. We’ll _be_ better.”

With that, the memory fades, and Catra is alone again, but the growing frustration at the Crystal Castle’s antics settles just a bit.

_So_ , Catra thinks, _It has to be pulling from my memories. There’s no way Adora knew what happened when I disappeared in the smoke after Thaymor._

Catra isn’t sure how the castle is pulling her memories, though. She didn’t think the Crystal Castle would maintain that ability years after Adora broke the sword and released Light Hope from the First Ones’ programming.

_Then again_ , Catra pulls herself up and runs her hands over her pants to smooth out any wrinkles, _The programming was still strong enough that Prime could manipulate it into believing Adora was a threat._

She turns, and, like spotlights on a stage, three memories play out before her.

The first is the Battle of Bright Moon, Catra facing off against She-Ra among the cliffs and in the shallow water outside the castle. The memory captures the moment just as Catra drags her claws down She-Ra’s back.

The second is Catra and Adora is Hordak’s sanctum, Catra with her hand on the lever that opened the portal. She can’t hear Adora begging her to stop, but that memory is one of many that’s permanently seared into Catra’s brain forever.

With a chilling smile, Catra pulls the lever.

The third memory is Catra right after Double Trouble left her in the burning debris of her fight with Hordak. She looks defeated and angry, and she knows that this is only moments before Glimmer finds her.

When Glimmer pointed her staff at Catra, Catra told her to do it, to end it.

She thought she was at her strongest in that moment, but she knew, even then, all of this power and destruction was never what she wanted.

Catra walks past the first two memories and looks down at herself, her clothes singed and her hair pushing past the mask she used to wear.

“I thought I could be strong,” this version of Catra says, her voice low and defeated, “But everyone was right. I’m weak, and I always will be.”

“No,” Catra says, determined, “You are not weak. You were always strong, and you will get stronger.”

“All I ever do is mess up,” her younger self, her lowest point, doesn’t meet her eyes, “And everyone always leaves.”

“You made mistakes,” Catra admits, “And some of those mistakes led to people leaving, but it’s what was best for them and best for you.”

The tattered version of herself looks up at her in disbelief.

Catra smiles.

“You are so loved,” Catra says, and she’s unsure if she’s saying it to the memory or to herself, “And at this moment, you never learned how to be loved by anyone unconditionally, but you will. You’ll learn how to let people in and be there for them in return, and that love will make you stronger than you can ever imagine.”

The memory fades, and Catra takes a deep breath.

This entire thing, from the floor opening up beneath her to all of the memories that the Crystal Castle has shown her, has been unnerving, but Catra feels lighter than she has in a while.

Off in the distance, Catra sees a light, and she chooses not to go towards it.

If it’s Adora, Bow, and Glimmer, they’ll find her without any problem.

If it’s another memory, Catra has had enough reliving to last her a lifetime.

She turns from the light for just a moment, and the castle gives her one last memory.

It’s their first kiss, Adora glowing as she becomes She-Ra. They pull away, and Adora smiles the dopiest smile Catra has ever seen before whispering out a soft, “ _Wow_ ,” through her giggles.

Catra remembers marveling at the fact that Adora could be She-Ra, powerful and strong enough to take down Horde Prime when no one else could, and still be the idiot she fell in love with.

“ _Don’t ruin it_ ,” younger Catra deadpans, gently shoving at Adora’s face.

“Catra!”

When she turns around, it’s Adora, _her_ Adora, that’s running towards her, Bow and Glimmer not far behind.

Adora pulls her into a tight hug, and Catra’s hands fist into Adora’s jacket so tight she’s sure her claws are cutting through fabric.

“I was so worried,” Adora says quickly as Bow and Glimmer join the hug, “I didn’t even know where to start looking.”

“How did you find me then?”

“Teleporting, mostly,” Glimmer answers, and Catra looks at Bow to see him rolling his eyes.

“Which was incredibly ineffective,” Bow adds on, “But _nobody_ listened to me when I said we should find another way.”

“Well, we found her eventually,” Glimmer argues.

“Because a random door popped up and Adora heard Catra through it.”

“Okay!” Catra shoves Bow and Glimmer away from her and Adora, “As fun as it is listening to you two bicker, can we _please_ get out of here? I’ve been trapped in a pitch-black room for too long and I want to be anywhere but here.”

Glimmer gives Catra a look that Catra definitely doesn’t like before pulling everyone closer to her and teleporting them out of the Crystal Castle.

Catra collapses onto the grass, holding in dry heaves, and she can feel Adora’s gentle hand on her back.

Glimmer is barely holding in her laughter, and Catra looks up with a glare before pouncing, taking Glimmer down easily, but Glimmer is quick to retaliate, pushing a fist full of sparkles right into Catra’s face.

“Guys,” Catra can hear Bow’s exasperation in his voice, “Can you maybe not do that?”

“She started it,” Catra argues, turning her head over her shoulder to make her point, and Glimmer uses that to push Catra off of her.

“It’s been years,” Glimmer gets up, brushing dirt and grass off of her clothes, “I don’t understand how you haven’t gotten used to teleporting.”

Catra goes to get up, and Adora offers her a hand.

She takes it, letting Adora pull her up, and Adora doesn’t let go, so Catra brushes herself off with her one free hand.

“I’ve asked for warning about a million times,” Catra hisses at Glimmer, “You’re the one who insists on doing that just to mess with me.”

“Well yeah,” Glimmer goes and grabs Bow’s hand, pulling him into the Whispering Woods, “It’s just so fun.”

Catra lets out an angry growl, and just as she pulls on Adora’s hand to follow Bow and Glimmer, Adora pulls her back, pulling her in close. The hand that isn’t holding Catra’s comes up to Catra’s cheek, and Catra rests hers on Adora’s waist.

“I’m going to murder your friends,” Catra says, but it doesn’t have any of the bite she usually says it with.

“They’re your friends too, you know.”

“Against my will and better judgement.”

Adora rolls her eyes, but she’s still smiling, and her thumb starts running along the short fur of Catra’s cheek.

“You like them.”

“I like Bow,” Catra corrects, “And in my defense, Bow is impossible not to like, but I _do not_ like Sparkles.”

“You two hang out all the time.”

“Just because I hang out with someone does not mean I like them.”

Adora levels Catra with a knowing look.

“For example,” Catra says, ignoring the look, “I’m around you all the time, and I can’t stand to be around you.”

“Catra—”

“I mean, imagine you had to be around the great and powerful She-Ra all the time,” Catra smirks, watching Adora try and hold in laughter at her antics, “Insufferable, truly.”

“You can’t fool me, Catra,” Adora says, the hand on Catra’s cheek pushing through the hair pulling out of Catra’s ponytail, “You’ve already shown your hand. I know you love me.”

Catra scoffs, but instead of pushing Adora away like she usually does, she pulls Adora in closer. “You have no proof.”

“You’ve told me,” Adora argues, “Multiple times.”

“That would never stand up in a trial.”

“We share a room.”

“We shared a room with about fifteen other kids in the Horde.”

“You traveled through space with me.”

“Because it’s _space_ ,” Catra gives her counterpoint, “You don’t need to be Entrapta to be excited about that. We met people from different planets!”

Instead of giving another argument, Adora pulls Catra in, kissing her gently and slowly like they had all the time in the world.

Catra figures they do, now that Etheria is in an era of peace and the other planets that were under Horde Prime’s control are working on rebuilding. They spent years returning the magic that the First Ones took and reversing the environmental effects of the Fright Zone’s extreme pollution. This is the first moment in their lives that nobody is demanding their attention.

In Catra’s opinion, her and Adora deserve this quiet moment all to themselves. After everything, after abuse and heartbreak and fighting on opposite sides of a war, after almost losing each other to mind control and First Ones’ poison, Catra is almost certain they deserve this moment outside the Crystal Castle and every one that follows it.

Adora pulls back from the kiss and rests her forehead against Catra’s.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Catra asks, brushing her nose against Adora’s.

Adora nods her head no. “I was a bit busy looking for you.”

“You’re going to force me to come back here, aren’t you?”

Adora breathes out a laugh, “I think I can manage on my own the next time I come.”

“I’m still going to come with,” Catra promises, “Melog is coming next time, though.”

“I’m surprised that you left them at Bright Moon this time.”

“They just looked so comfortable with Scorpia, and she loves them so much,” Catra admits, “I also didn’t think the Crystal Castle had enough leftover energy to make this mission possibly dangerous.”

“I would hardly say that this mission was dangerous,” Adora says, pulling away from Catra and starting to pull her through the Whispering Woods to Bright Moon, “It is weird that the ruins did that, though.”

“I didn’t think it would be able to without Light Hope,” Catra admits.

“The First Ones connected Light Hope to the castle, so a lot of its capabilities left with her, but the Heart still powers a lot of the technology in there,” Adora explains, “It’s not enough for the castle to run like it did before I broke the sword, but it kept a lot of its base programming and allows for the AI that guards the Heart to remain functional.”

Catra looks back over her shoulder at the castle, the once-bright stone dull and ivy growing up the sides after years of little use.

“I wonder why it chose me,” Catra says softly.

“I don’t know,” Adora stops them, turning to look at Catra while Catra looks at the ruins, “I would try and explain it, but the Crystal Castle has always had a mind of its own, even when it was fully functional.”

Catra thinks of the memories the ruins showed her, the different versions of herself that it allowed her to interact with. She would’ve assumed the castle chose her at random if the memories didn’t feel like they were directed at her, like the castle wanted Catra to confront her past and gain some closure.

Maybe it’s her connection to Adora. Maybe the castle recognized her from the last time she was there as Horde Prime overwhelmed the Heart and almost destroyed Etheria.

Maybe it really was just random, and the castle responded to her presence in the only way it knew how.

“I guess we’ll never know,” Catra says, turning back and smiling at Adora.

“Come on,” Adora says, mirroring Catra’s smile, “Let’s go home.”

“If Glimmer even thinks of teleporting back here, I’m throwing her off of Bright Moon Castle and no one can stop me.”

Adora laughs. “I think Bow might stop you.”

“Then the future king of Bright Moon will die alongside his bride,” Catra says, drama filling her voice in a way that would make Double Trouble proud.

“Still trying to off Bright Moon’s royalty, I see,” Adora jokes, “I thought you grew out of that.”

Catra smirks, “Old habits die hard, I guess.”

Adora looks over her shoulder, looking for any sign of Bow and Glimmer in the shade of the trees. “I think they went on without us.”

“Thank god,” Catra breathes out a dramatic sigh of relief, “We can have a nice, peaceful walk home without Sparkles ruining it.”

Adora smiles, “I wouldn’t mind taking our time.”

Catra smiles too, and she takes a few steps ahead of Adora before offering her hand. “Well, come on then, dummy,” she says, the insult coming out affectionate, “Let’s get out of here.”

**Author's Note:**

> There it is. I hope you guys liked it, because it's been a while coming. Honestly, it just feels nice to post something again, because I've missed it a lot.
> 
> Also, big ole thanks to my friend for reading through my fic and telling me they thought it wasn't shit. They're the real MVP here, and if you would like to give them your thanks, you can find them on Tumblr at @icameasahoplite and on AO3 at Enigma13. They're writing is *chef's kiss* and they're really cool. 
> 
> Feel free to let me know what you think down below. If Tumblr is more your speed, you can find me at hellofromthe-otter-slide.
> 
> Until the next fic!


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